Two months with Susie, hiking Utah canyons and Colorado mountains

It has been an exciting summer. I have been very busy and had a lot of fun. In fact I have been so busy that I have not had time to update my web page for quite some time. I apologize, in advance, it this update gets too long.

Way back on the 13th of June, Susie and I left Denver. We headed south towards my favorite place in the U.S., Great Sand Dunes National Park. We got to the park and camped in the campground. It was a cold and rainy day, so wearing hats, rain pants and Goretex jackets, we headed onto the sand dunes for an introductory stroll. We took our sandals and socks off to cross the stream. It was a unique experience to walk on the cold hard sand in full rain gear and bare feet. Of course, our feet were soon frozen from the cold wind and rain.

That night it snowed. When I woke up early the next morning, the dunes were covered with snow. I had been hoping to someday see the dunes like this, and here was my chance. Susie was still on her city sleep schedule, so I had time for a two hour walk to watch the snow melt on the sand before she woke up.

After breakfast we got our backcountry camping permit from the visitor center and headed out onto the trail. We walked the same way I went last year with Karla and Daniel. Only this year, we continued on around to the far side of the dunes and then turned into the dunes to camp for the night. We went to a stream for water and to eat dinner and then had a hard time finding the tent in the dark.

The next morning, I went for another long stroll on the dunes before Susie woke up. After breakfast, we played on the sand some more and then packed up. We headed straight across the dunes, back to the car. Crossing the dunes through the middle was another thing I had been hoping to do for many years.

After our first backpacking trip of the summer, we headed west to visit my friends John and Cathy and their family near Cortez, Colorado. We visited with them for the weekend and then continued our journey west.

We ended up at the Grand Gulch Primitive Area of Southeastern Utah and set off on a three day hike. We hiked down Kane Gulch and spent the night at the bottom of a deep an fairly wide canyon. On day two of this walk along the dry river bed, we missed all of the natural springs we were looking for. We sat out the hot afternoon in the shade of the huge red canyon walls. After a fruitless search for non-muddy water we continued down the canyon to the place where Bullet Canyon joined the main canyon. We camped there and filtered water from a nice and not to buggy pool of water. The next day we hiked up the new canyon and back to the road. This area is famous for Anazasi ruins and we were not disappointed. We saw many 800 year old cliff dwellings.

This hike followed a deep canyon through red rock cliffs, but had no running water and very few natural springs, none of which we were able to locate. We decide that all future desert backpacking trips would be along rivers so that water would never be a problem again.
After a night in the national forest near Natural Bridges National Monument, we checked out the natural bridges and went for a swim in Lake Powell. Then we drove into the Dark Canyon Primitive Area and set out on a five day camping trip. On the 21st of June, we hiked down a very steep canyon wall. Susie ended up with a handful of cactus thorns and not for the last time this summer, the tweezers on my pocket knife came in handy. We found a beautiful spot at the bottom of the canyon, right on the river, with a nice swimming hole only yards from our tent. We expected good weather, so we did not even bring the rain fly for the tent down with us.

On the second day, a squirrel ate a hole in my tent, trying to get to the food. We hung the food from a tree and headed off down the canyon. We followed the river for a few miles, stopping occasionally to jump in and cool off, until it disappeared in the mud. Shortly after that, we came to the Colorado River, although technically, they call it Lake Powell even though it still has a current. When we got there, we were greeted by a group of people on a huge, commercial, motorized raft. Floating on the river looked like fun, so we blew up our $2.00, Wal-Mart inflatable air mattresses and joined the fun. We floated around on the river for a while and then hiked back to camp to find that the squirrel had gotten to some of our food.

On the third day of this trip, we hiked upstream from our camp. Progress was slow, because we made a lot of swimming stops. We walked a few miles that day and returned to camp, to find that the squirrel had figured out a way to get a little bit more of our hanging food.

Susie took a reading and swimming rest day the next day and I put on my boots (after days of only sandals) and hiked six miles up the river to where another stream joined the one I was following. I looked at the nice waterfall and then went back down to camp. On our final day in the Dark Canyon, we headed downstream again. On our previous trip in this direction, we took a trail along the cliff side, above the river. Today I wanted to follow the river bottom through the slightly more narrow sections. This was a lot of fun because it involved jumping off cliffs into deep pools and some rock climbing around boulders. We returned to camp to discover that the squirrel had outsmarted us again. That evening we hiked back up to the car.

We had read about a canyon section called the "Black Hole". It is very narrow and very deep. It is also filled with water and very cold. To do this two mile hike/swim you need a very hot day with no rain in the forecast. Unfortunately, the next day was rainy and chilly. We did not want to get hypothermia or caught in a flash flood, so we decided to skip the Black Hole. See, when it comes to adventurous outdoor activities, I can use good judgement and common sense. We drove back to Colorado and visited my friend John again.

Susie had to go back to Denver for her friends wedding, so I stayed in Cortez. John's parents flew out from North Carolina and we all drove up to Grand Junction to watch John graduate from his three year residency program. He has now finished his nine years of medical training and is a full fledged doctor.

John graduated on the 29th of June, and on the next day the two of us set out on a four day backpacking trip. We hiked up a steep mountainside and camped at about 11,000 feet. We saw a herd of about 40 elk and also heard some coyotes howl. The next day we had to cross two high passes. It was a cold and wet day and we got pelted by the hail. We found an old mining cabin in the mountains and moved in there. The next day was clear and sunny, so we hiked over a ridge and down to a lake. There was a pipeline leading from this lake up to our cabin. We followed it back. At one point John found a little knob on the top of the pipe. He stepped on it and water, under great pressure, shot out and soaked me. It was pretty funny. There were some sections of very steep snow along our chosen route. I figured out that we could climb them by pretending our fingers were ice axes and our boots were crampons. It was fun going straight up the snow banks.

On the 3rd of July, we hiked down to Telluride and went back to John's house, after a brief visit with my cousin Susan at her office in town. The next day, Susie and I were both eager to get back on the road. We drove back into Utah and visited Goosenecks State Park. We admired the deep entrenched meander of the San Juan River and then went to Mexican Hat to visit our friends at the Cowboy Camp. We drove down to the cowboy camp, and to our surprise, it was deserted. Nobody was home, but after a little while, three locals came floating by in their little inflatable kayaks. I hoped in a kayak and Susie took the one remaining functioning air mattress and we floated down the San Juan River, through the one big rapid and on into town. We went up to the trailer park and just missed Slim, but did get to visit with Cody.

That night was a beautiful full moon and we took a great walk up a canyon and out onto the desert. The next morning Betty and Rusty came down to say "Hi" and then we went and visited them at their trailer for a little while before pushing on. We cut through Arizona, shopped in Page and ended up at the campground owned by our friend Easton in southern Utah.

Easton's, like the Cowboy Camp, is known as a party place for Trek America groups. We were surprised to find a second popular tour spot devoid of tourists. After a quiet night, we were ready for our next backpacking trip. In the middle of the afternoon, we started our six day hike into the Pariah Canyon - Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area. We followed the river bottom down into the Pariah Canyon. Soon it got pretty deep and narrow. Some sections were only about ten feet wide, but most of it was much wider. We found a nice safe place to camp, high above any potential flash floods, and stopped for the night. It was a beautiful warm night and I enjoyed listening to the echo of the flapping wings of the ravens as they flew by.

The second day of our Pariah Canyon hike was a bit rainy. We continued downstream found a fresh water spring or two and camped on another high spot. Along the way, we stopped to hike up a side canyon. This one was amazing, because after hiking to the top of the short canyon, we climbed over a high point and came down to the main canyon through a different side canyon. Essentially, we had just hiked along the bottom of a deep circular canyon. For some reason, hiking in a circle at the bottom of a canyon appeals to me.

During this hike, I sank a little bit into the mud and then fell over and had to crawl out on my hands and knees. I guess Susie knew I would be okay, because instead of giving me a hand, she laughed and took pictures.

From our second camp, we did a day hike downstream. We found a side canyon and hiked up that to look at an arch. On the way back to camp we were caught in a strong wind and got sand blasted. On the morning of our fourth day down there, we hiked back towards our first night's camp. Just before we got there, we found a wide, open cave in the red cliffs to sleep in. We put the tent up under the overhanging rock and pretended we were ancient Indians on our own personal Anazasi ledge. Also, we played checkers.

The next day was a lazy day and in the late afternoon we moved camp a mile upstream. We walked up the Pariah River, and at the confluence, started up Buckskin Gulch. We set up camp and then went for a stroll. We both enjoyed an after dinner stroll, especially when the weather was warm and the twilight was long.

We hiked up the narrow Buckskin Gulch and made a lot of stops to climb around on the interestingly shaped walls. About a mile from camp, we came to a chokestone, a huge boulder blocking the canyon. I managed to climb up the rock. Susie had some difficulty getting started on the climb, so I came around to help her from the bottom. I walked around the boulder, at the top, until I came to a hole behind it. I squeezed through the hole and ended up below the boulder. From there I could walk out from underneath it and back around to where Susie was still trying to get started on the climb. A few seconds after I got there, she managed to get onto the boulder and climbed to the top.

Once she made it up, she disappeared behind the rock, on her way back down. Then, I heard the sounds of something falling and of something breaking. I shouted up to ask if she was okay and was answered by a low moan. I asked again if she was alright and her response was again a low moan. I raced under the boulder and up the hole and around the bend to discover her lying upside down in a different hole. Only her butt and legs were hanging out. She started to repeat "Get me out of here." She was wedged in, upside down and could not move. I looked down the hole and figured out that the breaking sound was some wood she had hit when she slipped and fell.

When I peered into the hole, I could see blood pouring out of her head and down onto the rocks below. I pulled her out and the blood stopped running up her head and started down her body instead. She had a good sized cut on her head, but we were able to stop the bleeding with my t-shirt and some pressure. After a very brief rest, we went back to camp and I got to play doctor, or at least nurse. We cleaned the wound, put some anti-biotic ointment on it and then wrapped her head in an ace bandage. We also cleaned the rest of the blood off of her and counted up the few other scrapes and bruises she had on the rest of her body. Don't worry, we got some good pictures and I hope to have them on the web site in a month or two. Oh yeah, and by the way, she is also fine.

So, after an exciting evening, we went to sleep and then planned to hike out Buckskin Gulch the next day. We started up and quickly came to the deepest, narrowest part of the day. Susie waded through the water and I took her picture. Then I started for the thigh deep pools for my picture. Before I got very far, a six inch wall of muddy water came around the bend. It was too small to call a flash flood, so we called it a flash stream instead. We did not know if a bigger wall was going to follow it, but we did know that it would make the rest of Buckskin Gulch very muddy and difficult.

We walked back down stream to the Confluence and turned up the Pariah Canyon. We were able to out walk the flash stream with no problem. From the Confluence, we waited a few minutes as the sound of the rising river approached and watched the Buckskin Gulch flash stream pour into the Pariah Canyon. We took some pictures and hiked the ten miles or so back to Easton's.
I was a bit concerned about Susie's wound, and convinced her to have it looked at. We went to the hospital in Kanab and she was told that it was only an abrasion and did not need stitches. That night her boyfriend, John, came out to join us for a little while.

The next day we went to the Wave. The Wave is a very delicate and beautiful section of rocks on the Coyote Butte. Only 14 people per day are allowed to hike out there, so we were lucky to get tickets. We had a great time running around the formations. After this, we wanted to go visit Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is famous for its deep and narrow canyon beauty. But, for the second time this summer, we decided not to visit this canyon because it was raining and we were concerned about the flash flood potential. We drove over to Zion National Park instead.
The weather was not good enough for a canyon hike, so we hiked up the canyon side to Observation Point. The next day was clearer, so we did the Subway. The Subway is another narrow canyon with water. Some sections are filled with deep pools of water and we had to swim. Also, one section was difficult and required the use of a rope to get down. It was a great day hike and we even saw a big rattlesnake on the way out.

The next day, John left to start his drive to Alaska, and Susie and I started our overnight hike through the Zion Narrows. Much of this hike was actually in the water. We walked down the long side canyon and camped along the Zion River. After a good night sleep, we continued down the river. We took a little side trip to explore up Orderville Canyon and then returned to the Zion River. We soon came to the deepest water of the trip. It was about mid-chest level. After finishing this walk, and having a nice dinner, we drove northeast to the Bryce Canyon area. One of the more interesting aspects of this walk was the fact that we were passing through a very popular and environmentally sensitive area. This meant that we could not leave any waste behind, even solid human waste. When we got our permit for the hike, each of us also received, courtesy of the National Park Service, a Rest Stop 2. The Rest Stop 2 is a safe and convenient way of carrying your poop around. This was a first for me.

After a cold night in the mountains, we headed into the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument. We had a five day trip into Coyote Gulch planned. We started down the ever deepening canyon and soon came to the beginning of the stream we were to follow. Susie tried to walk down the middle of the small stream and quickly found some quicksand. She sank down to her thighs. She was able to free one leg, but the quicksand would not give up the other one. I hopped in and helped dig her out. That was exciting. That night we found a big rock ledge to camp.

After another full day hike, we found a triangle of rock protruding over a small drop off. It was the perfect place to camp and I went down to one of the two waterfalls for a splash around. We set off on a day hike from camp on the third day. We went to the bottom of Coyote Gulch and up the Escalante River. There was some great mud just up from the confluence and we had an awesome mud fight. Then we explored up Stephan's Canyon a little bit before returning to camp.

The next morning we hiked up the side of the canyon for a view from the top, before returning to our first nights camping place. That night, several nights after a similar thing happened on the East Coast of the U.S., we witnessed a very bright meteor. We were outside, reading books just after sunset. I looked up and saw my shadow surrounded by a very bright, white light. I turned around in time to see the very bright object streaking across the sky and leaving a trail. It quickly disappeared and we watched the smoke trail disintegrate in the wind.

We got an early start on the final day of this walk and finished before lunch. We had time to explore three small canyons nearby. We hiked up Spooky Canyon first. It was very narrow and we had to walk sideways. Then we followed this section of Coyote Gulch downstream a ways and then went up Brimstone Canyon.

At the entrance to Brimstone, we had to cross a short. thigh deep pool of stagnant water. Then, in the following dry section we found two dead birds, a dead bat and a a dead baby mouse. I guess a recent flash flood had caught a few unsuspecting animals. Brimstone Canyon kept getting narrower and deeper and darker. Soon we were in water again and it kept getting deeper. By the time the water was neck deep, I was very cold. We continued on, even though I saw a few cow pies floating in the water next to me. I did not want to get my face in the dark and smelly water, but it is very hard to tread water in a canyon that is less than one foot wide, especially when the sides are very muddy and impossible to gain any purchase upon. It did not take us long to decide to turn around. By the time we got out, we were very muddy and smelly also. I would love to go back there with a wet suit and a light. Or better yet, in March, when it is dry and you can walk all the way back into it, until it gets too narrow to continue.

The next stop on our trifecta of afternoon canyons was Peekaboo Canyon. This one is unique. It contains a series of drop-offs into muddy pools. Each of the first three or four drop-offs is topped by an arch. The view, looking through the series of arches is like looking into a rock tunnel.
Brimstone, Spooky and Peekaboo are three very enjoyable, but muddy, short canyon walks. After dinner in the town of Escalante, we went to a campground with showers. The next day we relaxed in town for a while and then drove up to Boulder Mountain, Utah.

We spent a cool night in the hills and then hiked to Boulder Top the next day. On the way down we met a ship captain and he got us thinking about joining the Merchant Marines. We spent another night on the side of Boulder Mountain and then continued northwest to Capital Reef National Park. We hiked up Burro Canyon. This one had some nice narrow sections as well as some good branching sections. The sky turned grey and we came back out. We drove up to the San Rafael Swell and camped there.

We had hoped to do some really narrow canyons in this area that involved swimming. Perhaps even another shot at the Black Hole. But, again, rain threatened and we changed our plans. We went into Goblin State Park and looked at the unique rock formations there. Then we drove east to Moab, Utah.

We spent a night in Canyonlands National Park and then took a day hike in the Needles section. We hiked through Cresler Park and played in the Joint area. The Joint Trail is a series of narrow vertical cracks in a checkerboard pattern. We followed all of them. Susie is skinnier than I am and was able to make it further into a few of them, but for the most part, we were both able to squeeze through the narrow cracks and come out the other side. It was a great day.
We decided to cool off a bit and headed up into the La Sal Mountains for our next four day backpacking trip. Near the trailhead some people had set up a beautiful arch for a wedding. When no one was around, we posed for some pictures and then, with some difficulty on the loose rocks, climbed up to over 12,700 feet, the highest point in the La Sal's. Next, we dropped down into a valley via a very long and enjoyable scree slope. The next day we hiked around a big mountain and over a pass to a campground. Another day of hiking brought us further along in our loop of the La Sal's. On the 31st of July, we walked back down to the car and drove to Telluride.

Along with my cousins Susan, Allen, Liana and Bailey we visited with cousin Carol and my dad. We spent a few days there and did some hiking and visiting. On the 3rd of August, we went over to El Jebel, which is near Carbondale, which is near Aspen, Colorado and visited with Susie's friend Chris. The next day the three of us hiked from Aspen to Gothic and then got a ride down to Crested Butte. We spent the night at the youth hostel and the next day Susie and I started the hike back, along a different trail.

We camped near a high mountain lake on the 5th. The next afternoon was rainey and we had an excellent hike over Coopper Pass and down to Conundrum Hot Springs. These natural springs are nine miles from the nearest road and just below tree line in the mountains. They were beautiful. We soaked in the hot water all evening. The next day we spent about seven hours sitting in the hot water. In the afternoon, we watched a nearby lightning storm from the warmth of the pool and even enjoyed a brief hail storm from our watery home for the afternoon.

After another morning of soaking we hiked back down to Aspen and visited Chris in El Jebel.
Next, we moved on down to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and did a day hike down to the bottom of that. We had time for one more backpacking trip. On the morning of the 11th of August, we headed into the Elk Creek Wilderness Area. After about a mile or two, we realized that there were no big mountains around and too many cows. We turned around, went back to the car, drove to Silverton, bought a map of the Weminuche Wilderness Area and started hiking from Purgatory, Colorado.

We only made it a mile or so down to the river that day. The next day we hiked down Cascade Creek and up the Animas River. On the third day we followed the Needle River up to Chicago Basin and camped there. The fourth day, like most of the previous days, was rainey. We did not let that deter us and ended up climbing to the top of Mt. Windom, one of a few mountains over 14,000 feet in the area. We were the only ones in the area, but did not get any views because the summit was deep in a cloud. It cleared up that afternoon and we got some good views on our way down.

The next day we hiked back down to Cascade Creek and camped near the scenic railroad tracks. Last Thursday, we hiked back to the car and Susie returned to Denver to begin planning her winter trip to Nepal, India and New Zealand.

I am now visiting John and Cathy in their new home in Dolores, Colorado.

And, by the way, for those of you who are following along at home, Susie is very good at math and has added up our total hiking miles for the summer. Counting our nine backpacking trips, our evening strolls and our day hikes, she figures we have walked 313 miles since we left Denver in mid-June. Without her, this summer, I have done three more backpacking trips and a few more day hikes, so my own personal total is somewhere close to 400 miles walked since I got to Colorado on the 11th of May. My new boots, which are barely a year old, look well worn.
Susie has written her own series of emails about our summer of fun. If you want the read her version of the events you can click here for the first three installments or here for second three installments.